Control VoiceOver with Trackpad Commander

Learn how to enable or disable Trackpad Commander, which lets you control VoiceOver on your Mac using a trackpad.

VoiceOver is a full-featured screen reader that speaks text in documents and windows and describes aloud what appears on your display. Using VoiceOver, you can control your Mac primarily with a keyboard, braille display, number pad, or trackpad.

When Trackpad Commander is enabled, the pointer on your Mac sometimes turns into a blue ring. This blue ring shows you where VoiceOver is focused on your display:

You can move the blue ring to other parts of the display by dragging your finger across the trackpad. When you move the blue ring, VoiceOver describes what the ring is hovering over.

Turn Trackpad Commander on or off

You can turn Trackpad Commander on or off using VoiceOver Utility:

In Finder, choose Go > Utilities from the menu bar.

In the Utilities folder, open VoiceOver Utility.

Select Commanders in the sidebar, then select Enable Trackpad Commander: